Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Item Chapter2 (section)

===Part 2===

District 7.

A large outdoor space was lined with what looked like long shipping containers, but they were actually model rooms for a variety of different styles of studio apartment. But these were meant for landlords and building managers, not for residents. The rooms were created with hive construction. The rooms themselves were made whole in a single factory using a special industrial 3D printer. A jungle-gym-like framework of beams was created first and then the boxy rooms could be inserted like drawers to create an entire apartment building. If the suicide or murder of a resident threatened to lower the value, the entire room could be removed and swapped out for a new one, so hive construction was gathering a lot of attention in Academy City for the possibility of removing some of the risk from real estate.

However.

There was one sample room where it wasn’t clear which construction company had the key to its lock.

“I’m baaack.”

After inserting two keys and opening the front door, Hanano Choubi found a few chairs, a wall-sized mirror, lighting equipment, an industrial dryer, and more. It looked something like a beauty parlor, but some might have recognized it as closer to a TV studio’s dressing room, where a stylist worked. In other words, you could sleep there if you wanted, but it didn’t look lived in.

Also, a mountain of plastic clothing cases was stacked up by the wall.

Wigs, hair extensions, color contacts, false eyelashes, double eyelid gel, mouthpieces, foundation, etc. There was even a selection of implants, artificial bones, silicone artificial breast bags, and other things that should need surgery to make use of.

In the back was a tanning machine like the ones seen at a tanning salon and hyperbaric oxygen capsules used to manipulate blood oxygen to alter the ''swelling'' of the skin, but she didn’t need either of those this time.

“Nyan, nyan, nya-nyan, nyahhn.”

Maybe she wanted to be the feline type because Hanano nyan-ed a popular song as she entered the fake sample room and reached for the top of her head. She ''removed'' her long hair as simply as she might a hat.

By removing her eyebrows and eyelashes, she revealed her base face. The smooth face reflected in the mirror reminded her of a doll before it was processed.

“Now, then.”

The mirror covered an entire wall, but not all of it was usable. A lot of its surface was covered by notes and photos. Those provided data on her target.

“Age: 52. Sex: Male. Hair: black and a bit greasy. See photo for distribution of gray. Skin: Asian with lots of blue base grease. Eyes: black with a hint of brown. Oh, and the skin is only lightly tanned and with minor dust mite allergy symptoms. Should I adjust the skin to be a bit rougher?”

Hanano’s specialty was disguise and infiltration.

The quality of her disguise was dependent on the amount of data she had on her target. This time, she had spent an entire week gathering that data herself, so she was confident she could give herself the same fingerprints, teeth shape, eyes, blood type, and scent as him. Once she was in disguise, not even the target’s parents or a police dog would notice anything was amiss.

And like in this case, sex and age were no obstacle.

After applying some makeup, she looked into the mirror to see an old man who would look at home in a fancy suit. The process wasn’t complete, so her face had swollen out to the appropriate size, but everything below remained that of a girl.

“Oops.”

Hanano Choubi’s fingers touched a rectangular box on the table, but she quickly pulled her hand back. She may have subconsciously wanted some refreshing menthol since it was summer, but these were flavored cigarettes. This target was a nonsmoker, so the smell of nicotine or tar would stand out. If she had carelessly smoked one, she would have had to start over from the beginning. That had been much too close.

(I can buy some scentless tablets later on.)

“Language: standard Japanese with a hint of an Aichi accent. Dry eyes and symptoms of neck and shoulder stiffness. Places his weight on his right leg when standing and dislikes having people stand on his left side. Holds his chopsticks wrong and mouth breaths when he loses his cool. Also…here we go. His handwriting is, um, angular but sloppy. Wow, I don’t know about his schooling, but his parents must not have raised him right. He doesn’t just confuse ‘to’ and ‘too’, but ‘two’ as well.”

Her voice grew lower and deeper as she spoke.

Her weight and body type had already been transformed.

Throw out your morals and rely on technology and anyone could transform, no supernatural powers necessary.

From head to toe, she had become the broad-shouldered ''insurance company general manager'' and spoke with the deep voice to match.

“Sigh. If only I had a friend who would do Magical Powered Kanamin cosplay with me.”